Slaying the Last Dragon
by Rogue - Just one touch
Summary: A poem I wrote for my creative writing class. It's a retelling of the last battle of Arthur, in another time through Morgaine le Fey. Rated M for suggested violence and death.


Slaying the Last Dragon

This land where winter comes never  
And the lush grass is trodden by gentle feet  
The mists curl in from crystal blue lakes  
The Summer Lands are home to many  
Learned women they are  
Once long ago it was home to a Lady most fair  
The sagest women of them all  
Whose power surpassed even the Merlin of Britain  
Many children she bore, though twas said but one  
Her son defeated the King, her brother  
Her daughters numbered four  
One for the quarters of the world  
Their children's children would increase the power to present day  
Where now with her name I live in this land  
Her power again lives through me

Again the tables are set for the epic battle  
The one that she herself strived to stop  
The board is set and the pieces in place  
The army is ready to march to war  
The King is too busy to notice the Queen and the Knight in the corner  
My love she talks with, clouding his judgement  
They say she is the Lady in white  
But her heart is blacker then the robes I wear  
Her treachery led others to believe I was the one at fault  
She slew the Dragon and placed a dead man on high  
While the men bloody themselves with war  
The women decide the outcome

Last time I knew not my son  
He had been taken away from me as a babe  
To be reared by others to set in motion the bloodiest war of all  
This time I bore no son to be her puppet

So here we sit on my isle  
Between us sits a mahogany pedestal  
With armies of ebony and ivory poised for battle  
The point of the match is not to capture the King  
It is the Queen that holds the power on this tiled board  
The motions begin with her moving of a pawn  
Back and forth the pieces move  
Playing out an intricate and deadly dance  
For a time this is all that happens  
Then she strikes and ends the life of one of my soldiers  
A drop of blood marks the place where an ebony soldier stood

And so it continues  
Back and forth it continues  
Soldiers dying on both sides  
The board is now slick with the blood of the fallen  
And with each fallen hero I pray for their soul  
The apple blossom tree that we are seated under is very old  
Its white petals are being blown about as the tree prepares to bare fruit  
The ones which fall amidst the remaining pieces are effectively dyed red  
The Earth herself sheds tears for those who have given their lives

Again it went on as such  
Back and forth  
Blood making the tiled board slick  
Then she made a move that made my blood freeze in my veins  
There before the Black Queen stood the White King  
My Brother  
I either had to take the King or lose the match and the battle  
I got up and screamed and cursed  
She was going to sacrifice my brother, her husband, the King  
For What  
To extend the match for another few rounds  
She knew she had been losing  
This was a war to steal my Love from me  
For her there was nothing to lose  
For me, everything  
My only family  
And the man I loved  
She laughed, to her, this was but a game  
But here in the Summer Land  
Where the magic and the mysteries of the world run deep  
A land not in reality but outside Faerie  
A simple match like this can make changes in reality  
This one was to decide the outcome of the epic battle  
She knew she would die as a result of the match if she lost  
So seeing her impending doom she would deal me a blow

Through my ranting I heard my brother's soul

Let you and he be happy  
The days of the glittering courts are once again over  
With my given blood the chain is broken  
Never again will we live in such tragedy

My brother's words ran through my being  
His willing sacrifice was a magic that would break us from this evil curse  
Slowly lowering myself to the cushion  
I gathered my resolve  
Plucking the Black Queen from her position  
Her blood soaked base dripped with life of the fallen  
With shaking hands  
With tears and a sob  
I moved her to the King's square

A great cry was heard throughout the land as my brother's blood fell to the earth  
The King was dead\Yet again as a result of my flesh  
Tears slid down my checks as I clutched the blood splattered White King to my breast  
My hands were covered in the blood of my kin  
And through my tears I saw the Queen shed a single tear  
Perhaps she still loved my brother enough to mourn his death  
Tucking the King in the folds of my gown  
Whipping the tears from my heavy eyes  
We resumed the match

The Ivory Queen fell  
The board was so coated with blood of many  
Only the deep red of life showed  
It would have to be burned, lest it become cursed  
Its pieces buried as tribute to those who fell  
Some whose names I knew, others I did not

The Queen stood up  
Her white gown splattered with the blood of the dripping board  
With a ghost of a smile she nodded to me  
Her gown trailed behind her; she turned and began to walk away  
As I stopped her I placed something in her hand  
She looked down at the Blood soaked White Queen that had lost all her purity  
She stared at it a moment  
Then clutching my hand in hers, the Queen to her breast, she smiles  
The first smile I had ever seen on her face  
Letting go of my hand  
She turned and walked into a direction of the lake  
A shiver ran through the air as the mists swallowed her up  
My sister-in-law  
A woman who was never truly happy was now at rest  
She was no longer in existence

With heavy heart I turned to the hardest task  
The men of the marsh readied the barge  
The barge made not a sound as it passed over the waters through the mists  
Carrying me to the banks of reality  
There waiting for me was the hopes and fears of my dreams

My Love stands on the bank beside his charger  
Changed, yet still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago  
Once the White Knight of the High Court  
He is now the Champion of the Summer Lands  
The Black Knight  
He has set aside the White colours of my teacher  
The Lady of the Lake, his Mother  
Now my station  
Tears roll from my cheeks as we embrace

Beside him, on a cart, lays the nightmare  
Wrapped in the Red velvet of his station  
Wrapped from head to foot  
His sword, the fabled Sword of Truth, lay across his chest  
My brother, the King  
The King lay dead  
All pretences of my High station seemed to fall away  
Again I was a simple girl  
Clutching her brother  
Her dead brother  
And grieving  
Peeling back the cloth I kissed the frozen lifeless lips of my baby brother  
I knew not how long I clutched and wept

Eventually I regained control and became the Lady of the Lake once more  
Once again the barge  
Carrying its precious cargo to the most Holiest of Lands  
Everyone gathered in mourning  
The young and old  
Come to bring the King home once more  
Young men carried the corpse to the pyre  
My Love I gave the Sword  
As his mother had give it to my brother

A hushed silence filled the expanse of all the worlds  
Back to the Dawn of Time and as far stretched to the unending Future  
Then, like the clearest instant my voice rang out

Mourn not my children  
The flesh houses no longer our beloved King  
Celebrate rather his sacrifice  
A sacrifice that has freed us from Darkness  
Go now my children and be merry  
For the dawn of a new age has begun

A euphony of voices rang out  
Cheering to the night  
Praising the fallen King as they descended the Tor  
All into the night they went  
To begin the celebration of the dead

By the light of the torch that my Love carried aloft  
A beacon of purity that seemed to drive away the darkness  
The White King emerged from the folds of my robe  
With shaking hands I placed it on the red velvet  
Touching the fabric  
Fleeting images of long lost childhood flooded back

The smooth hardness of the torch felt alien in my hand  
With but a simple glance  
My Love told me he would shoulder the burden  
He died by my hand  
Now I would lay him to rest

Leaping, the flames grew higher and higher  
As the flames consumed the body of the King  
Deep magic shifted  
Like a great shock  
Passing over everything  
The image before my eyes sharpened  
Clarity like looking through a crystal  
The Summer Lands have been drifting away for an eternity  
From the harsh reality, that it had become a Holy Land  
The Sacrifice of the King has pushed it further to Faerie

Time dilated  
Generations will pass before I grow a year  
Now they will only be a dream to the outside world

The dragons danced in fire light around my Love's wrists  
Our fingers entwined  
We walked into eternity  
Through us, the Dragon will live again.


End file.
